Sporting Kansas City assistant coach John Pascarella has been suspended for three games by Major League Soccer for his actions and comments about the match officiating in the Seattle game on Aug. 6.

Pascarella, who coaches the goalkeepers, will serve his suspension starting tomorrow night against the Portland Timbers. He's also banned from the D.C. United (Aug. 21) and FC Dallas (Aug. 27) matches.

No action, apparently, will be taken against Peter Vermes who also had a few things to say about the referee in the Seattle game.

Changes made to the Designated Player rules

On Tuesday, the MLS unveiled an amendment to its "Designated Player" rules, allowing teams the financial flexibility to sign younger players as designated players. Starting next year, DP's who are 21- to 23-years-old will count $200,000 against the salary cap and players 20 and younger will count as just $150,000 against the cap. The current cap hit for a DP is $335,000.

"If we want to continue our growth ... we need to be identifying top young players that can come in and grow in the league and be long-term stars in Major League Soccer for years to come," said Todd Durbin, MLS's executive vice president of competition and player relations.

What does this mean, you might ask. Well, it will allow teams to digest larger transfer fees for young non-U.S.-based players. The thinking goes: If the salary-cap hit is lessened, the club's owners (along with some allocation money) could overcome the high transfer fees.

It also would appear that the league wants its teams to get in the market for young, attacking talent.

Eddie Johnson coming back to MLS

Wayward U.S. striker and one-time Kansas City designated player Eddie Johnson was purchased by MLS. His rights will be distributed via the allocation process. Sporting Kansas City are currently fifth in the allocation order. I don't expect KC to make a bid on Johnson. The terms of Johnson's contract weren't disclosed.

KC connections

"With his 90-minute performance over the weekend, Colorado Rapids defender Drew Moor has tied the league record for consecutive regular season appearances by a field player without missing a minute (67 matches). Peter Vermes did it from 1998 to 2000. Moor’s streak started in late 2009. Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman holds the all-time mark (112 in 2006-09)."

Vermes is the current coach for KC; part of Hartman's streak occurred here in KC.